Towing company shares dash cam video of 6-car pileup in Colorado mountains

Colorado high country towing company Mountain Recovery shared dash camera video from one of their tow trucks in order to remind drivers how fast things can go wrong, especially when drivers are not paying close attention to the road.

The six-car pileup happened Tuesday evening last week, which included a massive tow truck rolling three and a half times. The Lakewood Police Department confirmed one driver was cited with careless driving and no proof of insurance. Two people were sent to the hospital with minor injuries -- one was the tow truck driver, Dean, who had some serious whiplash and a broken finger -- but both patients were released.

Owner of Mountain Recovery Charlie Stubblefield said watching the cameras inside the cab was heartbreaking. Aside from his employee getting hurt, the tow truck is totaled. 

"I don't know how it could get worse, actually," Stubblefield said. "Doing this for a long time, like 18 years and fire service for over 10 and this is about as crumpled as it gets, it went through the crusher, right? It is flat."

Stubblefield said he could tell from their video recording the driver in the white SUV did not see the line of traffic in time to respond correctly, and instead of slamming on the breaks, veered into another lane, causing the entire accident.

"Totally avoidable," Stubblefield said. "A lot of it has to do with distracted driving, most likely, I don't know that for a fact, but it's my guess from analyzation of the video."

Stubblefield said his driver Dean is doing much better this week and is even back to work (training at this point, not behind the wheel). He believes there are lessons to be learned from this moment that could have ended way worse. 

"Keep your head up, your eyes ahead of you on the vehicle that is just in front of you," Stubblefield said.